Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday.

ABCB has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $61.99 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $61.82 and a 200-day moving average of $55.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year high of $66.51. The company has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 416,557 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,153,000 after buying an additional 178,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,771,000 after acquiring an additional 92,491 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $3,869,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 164.8% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 119,164 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,765,000 after purchasing an additional 74,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,829,000 after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

About Ameris Bancorp

Ameris Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Ameris Bank that provides range of banking services to retail and commercial customers. It operates through five segments: Banking Division, Retail Mortgage Division, Warehouse Lending Division, SBA Division, and Premium Finance Division. The company offers commercial and retail checking, regular interest-bearing savings, money market, individual retirement, and certificates of deposit accounts.